More than 100 turn out to celebrate Moon Festival

Bloomington residents and IU students celebrated the Asian Cultural Center's annual Moon Festival under a full moon Wednesday night at the Kirkwood Observatory.\nThe Moon Festival is a Chinese holiday that celebrates the end of the harvest and is a time for family to get together and give thanks, said Wendy Ho, IU graduate and student outreach coordinator at the culture center.\nThe center first began celebrating the Moon Festival at IU in 1999 after incoming Asian students asked if festivals they celebrated at home, such as the Moon Festival, were celebrated here, said Melanie Castillo-Cullather, director of the center.\n"Any chance we have to share (Asian students') culture is good," Castillo-Cullather said. \nMore than 100 attendees to the festival participated in several activities, including calligraphy, an M&M chopstick game and a workshop in which participants created decorative Chinese paper lanterns.\nThe observatory was also open for people to view the full moon through a telescope. There was a smaller telescope for moon viewing across the street if people did not want to go up into the observatory. Wednesday was the first time the Moon Festival was held at the Kirkwood Observatory. Collins Living-Learning Center has also hosted moon festivals in its courtyard, Castillo-Cullather said. \nThe observatory is open every Wednesday night to the public, so this worked out well for the ACC, said Ted Maxwell, IU graduate and volunteer at the Kirkwood Observatory.\nWhile participating in the activities, attendees ate traditional Chinese moon cakes and drank hot tea. The mooncakes are small, bite-size cakes that have a filling including green tea leaves, beans or lotus seeds. \nGurion Jaffe, a senior at Harmony High School in Bloomington, tried a lotus seed mooncake. \n"It was really odd, but it was good," Jaffe said.\nIU student groups, including the Hong Kong Student Association and Chinese Student and Scholar Association, will be celebrating their official Moon Festival 6:30 p.m. Friday at in the Willkie Auditorium. The Taiwanese Student Association will have its on Saturday night at McNutt Quad.